You Already Know How

Networking feels scary because people treat it as a performance. But you already do it every day — with neighbors, with parents at the school gate, with the barista who knows your order. The room is fancier and the clothes are nicer, but the skill is identical: you talk to people and you listen.

The biggest mistake non-native speakers make is going quiet. They are so worried about a wrong verb tense that they say nothing at all — and silence is far more memorable than a small grammar slip.